Agra

Agra was once the capital of the Islamic rulers in India and their remainings are impressive. It's a busy, dirty city, but it's full of tourist because it's home to India's most famous monument: the Taj Mahal!!
After a long nightbus ride from Haridwar in a quite uncomfortable bus we arrived late and tired in the morning in Agra. We stayed there 3 days to visit the most important places, but there are too many to see them all.

The symbol of love, the Taj Mahal, is a wonderful place and very famous. It's a must see place in the north of India and even a very long queue (mainly Indian people) couldn't stop us to enter inside the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal, the favorite wife of Shah Jahan, the emperor at this time (and it's just an unimportant note, that this ruler had 72 other wifes...). The mausoleum is covered of white marbel and full of nice carvings, it took 22 years to build how it is now and was finished in 1653. After 3 entrance gates we got in the first courtyard from where one other gate (photo 1) leads to the main park area and behind, connected by a water channel (which was unfortunately empty...) is the mausoleum. On the left and right hand side of the mausoleum are 2 mosques (photo 8) and the whole complex is surrounded by a big wall.

The Taj seen from the Yamuna river at sunset time and from our hotel (the roof terrace restaurant).

Another big attraction in Agra is the Red Fort. Also built by the Islamic rulers in the middle of the 16th century, it has an 2,5 km long wall. The main part is occupied by the military, but where it is possible to enter for tourists, in the palace area, are some nice buildings. The view from the top of the wall along the Yamuna river towards the Taj Mahal is great if the weather is good, and luckily it was.

On a day trip we went to Fatehpur Sikri, 40 km from Agra and like the other 2 monuments a UNESCO world heritage. This town and palace was built in 1571 (by Akhbar, the same ruler who also built the Red Fort) and has a 10 km long town wall. Exept the wall and the palace is nearly nothing remaining, but this place and the nearby mosque are very nice.

The mosque here is the largest one in India, the main entrace gate is 54 meters high and inside the mosque are a lot of tombs.